Arrival into Berlin by air will bring you into one of 3 airports: Schönefeld , Tegel or Tempelhof .

SCHÖNEFELD AIRPORT (SXF)

The airport is situated 18 kms from the city centre, to the south-east of the city. It is mostly used by charter and low cost airlines such as easyJet, Ryanair, Germanwings and Aer Lingus.

From Schönefeld, the quickest way to get into the city is by taking the Airport Express (RB14, RE7) – a train service operated by Deutsche Bahn. Trains leave every 30 mins (hh:25 and hh:55) from platforms 3 or 4 at Berlin Schönefeld Flughafen Station which is an easy six minute walk from the airport terminal. First/ last Airport Express departure from Schönefeld Station: 04:25/ 22:55 ( timetable RE7 , timetable RB14). Berlin-bound Airport Express trains are now marked "Berlin Hbf./final destination" at Schönefeld Station (Hbf. = Hauptbahnhof = Main Station).

• RB14 trains (direction Nauen) stop at Karlshorst, Ostbahnhof, Alexanderplatz, Friedrichstraße, Hauptbahnhof, Zoologischer Garten, Charlottenburg and Spandau .
  
• RE7 trains (direction Dessau or Belzig) serve exactly the same stations but stop at Wannsee instead of Spandau .

There are also two S-Bahn (urban rail) lines which terminate at Schönefeld station. It will usually take you longer to get into the city since these trains make quite a few en-route stops. Last S-Bahn departs Schönefeld Station at 00:58, S-Bahn operates all night on Friday and Saturday nights.
( timetable weekdays , timetable weekend & holidays , network map S-Bahn & U-Bahn )

• S45 trains (bound for Herrmannstraße ) connect to S41/S42 which circle around Berlin 's centre.
• S9 trains (bound for Spandau ) run via Ostkreuz and call at all RB14 stops except for Karlshorst. Attention: If you are travelling to the airport change for the S9 at Warschauer Straße, since airport-bound trains won't stop at Ostkreuz even though network maps seem to suggest that.

In order to connect to Berlin 's U-Bahn (underground) take bus X7 (bound for U Rudow ) or bus 171 (bound for U Herrmannplatz ) and change at U Rudow for line U7. Major transit hubs with U-Bahn connections are Alexanderplatz (U2, U5, U8), Friedrichstraße (U6) and Zoologischer Garten (U2) which are easily reached by Airport Express or S-Bahn.

Night bus N71 operates between Schönefeld Airport and U Rudow. There you can connect to U-Bahn U7 (Fri and Sat night) or U-Bahn replacement night bus service N7 (Sun to Thu night).

A single ticket from Schönefeld Airport (fare zone C) to Berlin city centre (fare zone A) costs 2,80 EUR and covers the Airport Express, S-Bahn, U-Bahn, bus and tram. You may make as many stops or transfers as you like during the two-hour period of validity, however, the ticket is not valid for return or round trips. Make sure you validate your ticket! Multi-lingual ticket machines are to be found in the arrivals area of terminal A, outside terminal A next to the bus bays and in the airport station. For more details on ticket options check the BVG website or the Berlin Public Transportation section on TA.

A very useful tool to plan your airport transfer by public transport is the BVG journey planner  (see explanations at the bottom of this page) .

A Taxi from the airport to the city centre east (Alexanderplatz) costs around 25 EUR, a ride to the city centre west (Kurfürstendamm) is around 30 EUR. The Taxi rank is situated in front of Terminal A.

Car rental agencies: AVIS, Budget, Europcar, Hertz, Sixt (car rental pavilion opposite to Terminal A, opening hours). 

TEGEL AIRPORT (TXL)

TXL is much closer to the city centre than SXF. It is used by most of the important airlines such as Lufthansa, Air France, British Airways and Air Berlin. Continental Airlines and Delta Air Lines fly nonstop from New York into Tegel.

Getting from TXL to the centre is easy and fast. The best way is to take the Airport Express Bus  – going either to Zoo station (city west) or Alexanderplatz (city east). Buses leave roughly every 10 mins. The tickets can be bought directly from the driver for 2,10€/person. The transport to the city centre takes about 20-30 minutes. 

Transfer options include buses TXL, X9, 109 and 128:

A Taxi from the airport to the city centre east (Alexanderplatz) costs around 20 EUR.

BVG Journey Planner: After you have read through all the general information on transfer options from the airports to central Berlin you could check out the BVG journey planner. This tool provides you with a detailed itinerary for transfers between any two points within the city of Berlin (e.g. bus/tram stop, S-Bahn/U-Bahn/regional train/mainland train station or even any address within the city of Berlin and bordering region).

For your transfer from the airport to the hotel enter the three letter code of the airport you are flying to (SXF - Schönefeld, TXL - Tegel, THF - Tempelhof) as origin ("From"). As destination ("To") enter the address of your hotel like this : Street , street number, five digit postcode, Berlin (without commas). If you do not already have the complete address check back with the hotel or search the internet (most hotels in TA hotel review section are listed with address).

Here is one qiuck example: Transfer from Schönefeld Airport to Arcotel Velvet (address: Oranienburger Straße 52, 10117 Berlin, Germany) should look like this:

From: SXF    ///    To: Oranienburger Straße 52 10117 Berlin

Railways - Inter City (IC), Euro-City (EC) and InterCityExpress (ICE) Trains

Berlin is well served by a variety of trains from all over Europe that arrive at the new main railway station (Berlin Hbf). Most will also call at Berlin Spandau and/or Berlin Ostbahnhof. These serve the west and east of the city respectively. You can connect with S-Bahn services at both of these stations. Currently Berlin Hbf is served only by those S-Bahn services running east-west so consider Spandau and Ostbahnhof as alternatives. Berlin Zoo is also served by overnight services to Wien, Paris, Munich, Kiev and Moscow.Visit the German National Railway website for lots of information about trains and schedules.